Why new genetic techniques need to be stringently regulated – study
LATEST VIDEOS Why new genetic techniques need to be stringently regulated – study Details
1. Why new genetic techniques need to be stringently regulated – comment on new study
2. Differentiated impacts of human interventions on nature: Scaling the conversation on regulation of gene technologies – new study abstract -
Third World Network Biosafety Information Service, 4 Apr 2021
Worldwide, governments are under pressure from the biotechnology and agrichemical industries to deregulate products developed using the so-called “new” genetic engineering techniques such as genome editing and gene silencing. A new paper describes how many of the new techniques are not new to science, but because of technical developments can now be applied to more species in less time and for more kinds of traits.
Small changes made with gene editing cause severe deformities in plants
LATEST VIDEOS Small changes made with gene editing cause severe deformities in plants Details
New study points to unintended effects of gene editing in plants and potential negative effects on ecosystems
Gene editing causes drastic unwanted effects in gene-edited plants including severe deformities, a new scientific publication in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe shows. This is the case even when the changes are intended by the gene editor to be small tweaks to existing genes rather than, for example, the introduction of new genetic material.
More broadly, the study provides an overview of the negative effects on ecosystems that can result from the release of gene-edited plants. These unintended effects result from the intended changes induced by genome editing, which can affect various metabolic processes in the plants.
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Planning documents for the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit shed new light on the agenda behind the controversial food summit that hundreds of farmers’ and human rights groups are boycotting. The groups say agribusiness interests and elite foundations are dominating the process to push through an agenda that would enable the exploitation of global food systems, and especially Africa.
The documents, including a background paper prepared for summit dialogues and a draft policy brief for the summit, bring into focus “plans for the massive industrialization of Africa’s food systems,” said Mariam Mayet, executive director of the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), who provided the documents to U.S. Right to Know.
Monsanto owner Bayer and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban Details
Internal government emails show actions similar to those by Bayer and lobbyists to kill a proposed ban in Thailand in 2019
EXCERPT: “We’re seeing more and more how the pesticide industry uses the US government to aggressively push its agenda on the international stage and quash any attempt by people in other countries to take control of their food supply,” said Nathan Donley, a biologist with the CBD conservation group. -
Carey Gillam
[links to sources at this URL] Internal government emails show actions similar to those by Bayer and lobbyists to kill a proposed ban in Thailand in 2019
Bill Gates, Climate Warrior – and Super Emitter Details
Bill Gates has a new book out:
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster. But some people are less than amused at having to take lessons on the climate crisis from a billionaire who, in the words of the ETC Group, “made a fortune skirting government regulations with monopolistic practices, and holds a significant financial stake in the continued expansion of the fossil fuel industry.”
The following article by Tim Schwab makes clear just how extensive those fossil fuel investments are and how much they are at odds with Bill Gates’ claims. But at the same time as holding significant financial interests in fossil fuel extraction and fossil fuel dependent industries, quite apart from having a massive personal carbon footprint, Gates is also embracing large-scale planetary interventions via risky geoengineering.